Woman Pleads Guilty in Million-Dollar Embezzlement Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 27, 2009 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Jennifer C. Shaeffer, age 47, pleaded guilty today to committing wire fraud in connection with an embezzlement scheme. Shaeffer faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and according to the terms of the plea agreement she must also pay full restitution to the victim of her fraud. She will be sentenced on April 17, 2009.
Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Gregory Campbell, Postal Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Joseph Persichini, Jr. Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.
According to a statement of facts filed with the plea, Shaeffer was employed as a finance manager by Tobii Technology Inc. in Falls Church, Va. She handled payroll and managed financial account records and had access to the company's bank account information. Shaeffer used that access to transfer more than $1 million of Tobii's funds to accounts she controlled. She concealed these actions with fraudulent accounting entries she placed in Tobii's books and records. Shaeffer used the money she stole to pay for casino and gambling-related expenses, jewelry purchases and vacations.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Edmund P. Power is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.